A Darker Shade
by Pitifull-Smile
Summary: Allen meets with a strange boy that turns out to be the 14th in a dream and learns something he has both yearned to hear and now must suffer the conceqences to. A one-shot thats been nagging at me for quite a while now, put into words.


Disclaimer: Me no own, me want to own, me is very alone since me no own, me sad at home, me sadly no own… Cause if I did they'd all have state of the art cell phones.

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Allen Walker steadily walked down a twisting bright white path, the only light source within the dark oblivion he walked through. His movements were steady and sure, as if he knew where to go when in all honesty had no clue in the slightest where he was.

His expression like that of one in a trance, far away and distant deprived of a light. Empty.

He continued forward for minutes and hours alike till a dark figure came into place far off into the distance. He widened his stride feeling a strange urge to reach the stranger sooner.

And as Allen got closer he could soon make out the persons appearance. It was a young boy, with a pale face and coal black hair. A long pink scar running from his left cheek, cutting through the left eye and ending just above the hair line as a reddish scare.

His eyes were a deep molten gold, lost in their own depthless emptiness, sending involuntary shivers up his spine. But this made little sense, for Allen's silver gray pools held that same depth to them though he could not see it for himself.

In truth the boy was no different to Allen's appearance, with the exception of both the hair and eye color of course. They both wore an expensive looking black and white tux that seemed to mock their differences in contrast to their hair colors, and both had a wilted blood red rose adorning the neck of the suits. Each one wore a matching pair of cloves to go with the whole look, finishing it off.

Allen approached the other with coolness unlike him, and sat himself in antique white chair appearing opposite his copy.

"Good morning" said the other in a voice much like Allen's mood: Calm and at the same time curious. But this similarity was quickly stifled by the greeting as Allen had trouble understanding the meaning to it.

"But it is not morning…" he said with a vague gesture towards the black sky a light confusion showing in his downcast eyes.

"Ah! But that is what you think. See? The other raised a pail hand to point upward with a thin finger in a similar gesture to Allen's, smiling softly.

Allen raised his face to the pointed out area but had to look away at the abrupt brightness that bet his gaze. Sure enough there it was a half orb in the distance signifying the rising sun cut in half by an unseen horizon it's cold radiance brightening the unending void of blood red sky.

"Oh…" he said simply, as if the sudden change was a common occurrence he had only now just accepted.

Allen turned his gaze reluctantly from the chilling sight to instead look at the stranger once more.

"Where am I?"

"You are here." Said the other, now using a pail finger to rhythmically tap his forehead.

This set Allen in an even more confused state, resulting in him tilting his head to the right slightly.

"What do you mean? I am here." He said perplexed, lifting a hand of his own to place it over his forehead, in an imitation of his copy's action.

The golden orbs of the other seemed to gain some life in them at the question. The owner of them imitating Allen perfectly, with a slight tilt of his head to the right.

"I am you, and you are me. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?" he stated as a matter-of-fact, a small frown playing out over his thin lips.

Allen shook his head vaguely towards the other in answer, assuming a small frown of his own identical to his copies.

The black haired boy shook his head as Allen had. "But I tell not but the truth! I am you, and you are me. We are one. We are separate. We are identical interties."

Allen let his frown deepen and his eyes narrow. What was the meaning behind these words? He was saying they were one person and at the same time he was saying they were separate beings. Which one was it? He clasped his hands together and looked down into them as if they would bring him the wanted answers.

"You are lying." He finally said not looking up. "If we are one then why is it I am free of all but my thoughts? If we are separate then why it is you carry my appearance?" he looked up to the other "we are kindred souls. Similar but separate. Separate but similar. I am me, and you are you."

The other sat there for a long moment going through the motions of interlacing his hands and staring into them for several minutes. Then… he smiled.

The smile wasn't a friendly one, meant for comfort or gratitude. It wasn't fake, but neither was it true. No. This smile was one of gleeful realization. The one someone gets when they know their alive and living, but at the same time are living with the realization that they're about to die in some horrible unthought-of way.

He didn't say anything more after this, merely looked up at Allen with that strange half-hearted smile on. And much to his own surprise Allen himself, let a smile adorn his pale lips in mockery of the other, though he didn't know why.

"Have you noticed," said the other finally breaking the silence "that are actions follow each other in a perfect replica of each other?"

Allen blinked several times at this, and couldn't help but notice his semi-twin do the same after a moment.

"I suppose so… yes… I have."

The black haired boy rested his elbows on his knees and laid his head gently in his pale palms.

"Of all the things I imagined to happen here and now…" he trailed off, smile stretching slightly.

"Boy, do you know who I am?"

Allen thought this over for a moment, but came with no answer and shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Does the title Noah ring a bell?" the other hinted still looking for the answer, almost seeming desperate for some reorganization.

Allen still had none for the other, as he two came to find his elbows rested on his knees, head lying in palms, with a grin on his pale face. "Why don't you just tell me yourself if it's so important?"

The other's smile slackened slightly transferring to its original gleeful form. "If I knew that answer then why would I be asking you?"

This puzzled Allen. In fact up to this point, nearly everything the other had said to him was a mystery in their meanings.

"Of course, you would not know Allen. Of course, those whose existence dwindles with every second would not be remembered nor be remembered. Of course I speak with truth to you. I do not lie. I cannot lie. The part of me that still remains has lost the privilege of such a luxury." The black haired boy stood up then, with eyes only for Allen, who was soon to follow in the others lead.

"Allen why is it that a soul so pure can be tainted so?"

Allen stared blankly at the other, not having a clue as to what he meant.

"Allen why is it that to achieve in something you are, you must be what you aren't?"

Still a blank stare.

"Allen you were pure. Purer than white light. But now all I see is black, black like a moonless night."

Allen looked down at his hand curiously. It was still the same pale creamy shade it had always been, so what did the other mean?

The boy strode towards Allen till he only stood just under a foot from him. He bent forward till his lips were at Allen's ear, his breath like that of ice.

"I congratulate you Allen. You beat me; won the battle. But I wander… Was it really worth losing yourself in the fight? Are you really prepared to embrace the darkness? Do you really want to be what you not for the rest of your pitiful, heartless life?" Allen's eyes were wide in fright, but strangely he found himself unable to neither move nor speak in return to the other.

"I ask this because I care even if that too I have lost of my once-life. I say all this because even though I want to care, I don't. I tell you more and still more, because maybe you might scream silently with agony, or even try to end your pitiful life."

There was a long moment where everything seemed to freeze in time. The sky was somehow black again even the carved white path gone from existence. But he could still feel icy breath on his neck, could still feel the chilling fear creeping up his spine.

Then as if blown towards him like the faintest of breezes on a deathly still night: "Open your eyes Allen. Open them and be what you despise; be what you envy; be what you fear. BE! For that my dear boy is the life my ending shall and will bring! Embrace it… Hate it… Fear it… "

Allen Walker's silver gray eyes snapped open, dilated and wide. They swiveled from one corner to the other not bothering to focus on the shadowing objects in the room but merely pass by them unseen. It was his room he realized, sitting up to get a better look at his surroundings.

His relief was great as he through his legs over the side of his bed and let them dangle in the air. He sighed intent on ridding himself of the hateful nightmare with his eye lids closing over silver orbs.

Something warm and wet, he realized was dripping onto his exposed arm. Cracking open an eye he looked down on the limb, only to widen his eyes in terror, at the sight of dark fresh blood coating it.

A moment later a skull cracking pain erupted throughout his head and body. Forcing his protesting body to its feet he tripped and stumbled blindly for the bathroom. He could hear a blood curdling scream coming from somewhere but was too disoriented to know where exactly.

Somehow flipping the switch to the bathrooms light on, Allen's legs gave out with a lurch resulting in him lunging for the counter in front of the mirror. He painfully managed to lift himself over the edge and reached into the sink filling in with a lumpy concoction of food and blood.

His eyes rolled around aimlessly in their sockets coming in and out of focus. The pain the blood, it had all happened before whenever the 14th was to take over for any period of time. Only this time Allen was himself. He could distinctly if not clearly see the seven bloody crosses spanning his forehead whenever they happened to roll over the mirror. But he was in control of the movements his body made, could feel with all clarity the pain if the deep cuts imbedded in his forehead that would normally have been fogged by the 14th.

He could feel it; this was what it felt like to become a Noah. He was himself; the Noah in him was no longer there at the corners of his mind seeking control with every waking moment. He should have been glad, but for some reason the only thing Allen could feel was a complete emptiness, full of pain and sorrow.

Through all this pain Allen understood it now.

He had beat the 14th all right, but at what price?

It was not his soul, his friend's lives, his memories… No. The only thing Allen lost was the only thing he could not lose. The 14th was gone, left Allen to take his place. This was the price the disappearing figure had spoken of. This was his automate victory within a misery. The thing he had lost was the 14th.

"Live my life…" whispered a voice in the softest of whispers "Live the one life that has no life… Embrace the darkness Allen Walker. Become the darker shade. Become…me."

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This is just a one shot that's been creeping along the corners of my mind for a while so for the limited time I've had on the computer for the past week I've been steadily adding to it. I respect any constructive criticism anyone has for me but remember the only way to do such an honorable thing is to press that little box at the bottom with the noticeable green script. Also I doubt it will ever come to be but if anyone thinks I should make a sequel to this I will considering doing so in time. But that's up to your answer and my ability to make something from it. Till then thank you for reading and I hope this little story wasn't a complete waste of your time.


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